The invention pertains to sound-actuated light displays and lighted symbol displays.
Sound-actuated flashing light units are known to the art. A well-known example of these are color organs which utilize a plurality of colored lights or a colorwheel in conjunction with reflectors to create and project multicolored light patterns. The lights or colorwheel are often connected to a power source across a sound-actuated switch, so that the lights change intensity and flash in synchronization with the detected variation in the volume of sound. Thus the lights will change intensity and flash in unison with for example the beat of music being played in a room.
Lighted symbol displays are also known to the art. They often utilize a light or a series of lights positioned behind a translucent cover which has the symbol to be displayed painted or otherwise defined thereon. Some such displays may have a manual switch for changing the lighting of the display to modify the appearance or the message of the symbol being displayed by the display. The term "symbol" is used throughout the following description to mean a design or verbal message of any shape, form, color or size, however created.
However, lighted symbol displays have not generally been made in the form of sound-actuated light displays, one reason being that the reflectors utilized in sound-actuated flashing units have generally not been suitable for illuminating symbols, such as designs or messages, in a manner conducive to the symbols' being easily seen and recognized, yet such that the lighting and color scheme illuminating the symbol would be interesting and pleasant to look at. Nor have the lighted symbol displays utilized reflectors, and prismatic light diffusing covers for the reflectors, of a configuration suited for use with sound-actuated lights to create illumination for symbols that would be both appealing and interesting to look at, yet provide adequate illumination for the symbol to make it easily perceived and recognized.